These pics are from the workshop of the previous owner, who had inherited it from his father. I purchased it for $200 in 2013, fully working!

Installing

This saw is unusual since its mounted on a post, and not standing on the floor. At 800 lbs, its no picnic to raise and bolt in place. A large rugby player and I needed almost 6 hours to hoist it.

​Due to its size, I had to install it and build the workshop around the saw.

Restoration has been a arduous task with many complications.

Its now in working shape, but not yet being used.

​I promised my wife that guards will be built over the blade and wheels first. And without those, honestly, this saw scares me!

This is the last restoration project I plan on. These old tools are great, but the time and effort required to restore them is enormous.

GuardsMade from standard 1/2" plywood and cut with a router. The outside edges needed to be bent, so a wood steamer was built and used.

Those thin strips were wrapped on, glued, clamped and pin-nailed.

Fitting the guards around the wheels and frame was a chore and is not yet complete.

PowerOriginally it was powered by a lineshaft. Now its a 5 hp, 3ph motor. However when starting, it takes a lot of power to spin 30" cast iron wheels. Enough to blow a 50 amp circuit breaker. So a VFD is now used to slowly ramp up the load and bring the wheels up to speed.

History

MacGregor Gourlay (under various corporate names) was a very prolific local manufacturer that produced a ton of very large bandsaw and large metal lathes. Many are routinely found on Kijiji.